Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1887-03-12

subterransan Parfs

A NetC Orleans PIicdy1lHe correspond
ent at Paris writes: This city is. so to
speak, an immense mole-hil. Under
the houses, public buildings, churches,
squares, and streets Of Paris, in all an
area Of 10000 acres, Is a vast sdbter-
ranean region, such as the sewers and
those abandoned quaEries which are called
the Catacombs. Most of these subter-
ranean galleries are very ancient, and
those which lie nearest the Seine were
dug either during the Roman occupancy
Of Gaul, or during the reigns Of the
earliest dynGsties of French.kings. Fully
third Of Paris rests on a bed either of
gypsum or Of limestone, both of which
ara valuable building materials, and it
was in order to obtain them that these
subteFranean quarries were opened as
soon as the inhabitants Of Lutece abRnd-
Oned their mud huts after the Romans
had taught them how to mix plaster and
to cut stone.
The gypsum deposits are all on the
right bank Of the river, at MOntmdtre
and the Buttes- ChaumOnt, both Of who
hills are honeycOmbed with gaIleTie
which have of late years been for the
most part filed up. Twenty years ago
the gdarries in Buttes-C hRumont, known
as the "Carrieresd Amerique," were
still worked, and meanwhile had Gcquir-
ed local celebrity as the favOrite hiding
place Of dangerous criminals and OctrOl
smugglers. The bluffs on which Passdy
is built, also the TrocaderO hill, are under
mined by what were once extensive
| limestone quarries. Down 10 compare
lively recent times it WIS exclusively
from these quarries and those on the left
bank Of the river that came the stone
used for building in Paries, and it nay
safely be said that all the cid places,
public buildings, and churches of the
4 capital are constructed Of stone taken
/ from beneath the surface Of the city. AS
the town extended SO, too, did the quar-
ries, and along about I774 the govern
ment began 70 concern itself over the
! danger presented by the honeycOmbed
condition Of the ground. A commission
was appointed TO inspect the abandoned
| quRrries and to take such measures as
might be necessary to keep them from
cRving in. The very day the commits
sion entered on its duties a gallery pass
ing under the Rue d. Enter gave way and
a house suddenly sank more than sixty
Get below she street level
The quarries were carefully surveyed,
and wherever there was any likelihood
OF a recurrencer Of such an accident the
galleries were either filed up or strength
ened with columns of heavy masonry.
OF course, no underground quarrying is
now permitted inside the city limits, but
it is still carried on very extensively in
all the suburban region lying on the
southeast. The surface area inside the
city on the left bank Of the Seine thus
undermined is about 1875 acres, and If
the galleries were placed end to end they
would measure more than 70 miles. The
principal group of galleries Lie under
that part OF the city which would be
included In a line drawn from the
Versailles gate through the Church Of St.
/ Lambert, the Necker hospital, the Church
Of st. Sulpice, the Ecole de Medicine, the
/ Lycee st. Louis, and along the course
OF tie Bieyre TO the Qualifications. On
the other side Of the Bievre rivulet Is a
second and smaller group Of galleries
which I'LL up the space between the little
stream and the line OF the Orleans rail
way; there is also third and still smaller
one under the Jardin des Plautes, but
in reality this Is a part Of the first group
that 7 have mentioned.